With its redesign for 2016, the Jaguar XF follows the full-size XJ and the new XE into the house of aluminum. In addition to the attendant weight loss, the new XF also sees a major increase in its tech offerings, while its engine lineup is sharply reduced.

The switch from an all-steel structure sees the mid-size luxury-sport sedan, which first made its debut for the 2009 model year, shed considerable mass. Jaguar is quoting a 132-pound weight loss for the rear-wheel-drive model and an impressive 265-pound cut for the all-wheel-drive version. Helping matters is the fact that the car has not grown any larger. The overall package size is retained, but the car’s wheelbase grows by two inches. The wheelbase stretch yields more rear-seat room, a welcome development. However, Jaguar is claiming bumps of less than an inch in rear-seat knee- and legroom, which is less than we might have hoped.

The new styling is largely evolutionary, not surprising given that the previous car ushered in Jaguar’s current design language. Although the whole car is new, the most noticeably fresh elements might be the headlights (available as full LEDs), the taillights (which take their cue from the F-type’s), and the elongated greenhouse that now includes quarter-windows in the C-pillars.

Will That Be a V-6, or a V-6?

The dramatically shrunken engine lineup is reduced to just two versions of the 3.0-liter supercharged V-6. This is the same 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 as before, making an identical 340 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque. It’s joined by a new, 380-hp version of the engine in the XF S, but that iteration also produces 332 lb-ft. Both versions of the V-6 use an eight-speed automatic—with gear selection by Jaguar’s dial shifter—and can be had with rear- or all-wheel drive. Jaguar predicts a 5.1-second zero-to-60-mph time for both the AWD XF and the RWD XF S, with the AWD XF S finishing one-tenth quicker than that and the RWD XF one-tenth behind.

With entry-level-sedan duties now handled by the new XE, the Ford-sourced 2.0-liter turbocharged four does not return (and we can’t say that we’ll miss it). Nor does the 5.0-liter supercharged V-8, which in the outgoing car was good for between 470 and 550 horsepower (the latter in the ultra-limited-edition XFR-S). The next engine to join the lineup for the new XF will be a 2.0-liter turbo-diesel, part of JLR’s new Ingenium family of engines. It promises highway fuel economy of about 40 mpg but won’t come onstream until about six months after launch.

As on AWD versions of the F-type, the setup here can brake an inside wheel to enhance cornering. Both the standard dampers and the optional adaptive dampers have been retuned. When paired with all-wheel drive, the latter includes what Jaguar calls Adaptive Surface Response, which functions as a self-actuating winter mode when slippery road conditions are detected. The active dampers—along with the steering effort, throttle sensitivity, and transmission shift mapping—also can be configured via three driver-selectable modes.

Practically Like a Trip to CES

The new XF also pours on the tech elsewhere. New systems and features include a head-up display, forward-collision warning with automated braking, lane-keeping assist (enabling brief bouts of hands-free driving), adaptive cruise control that can automatically creep along in stop-and-go traffic, a driver-drowsiness monitor, and semiautomated parking (parallel and perpendicular). A feature called Intelligent Speed Limiter, which can read speed-limit signs and automatically adjust the cruise control to keep the car exactly at the speed limit, sounds like a bit of a killjoy to us.

The better news is that Jaguar’s slow-acting, much-loathed touch-screen interface has been junked in favor of a new, larger unit with the grandiose name InControl Touch Pro. Debuting on the new XF, it features a 10.2-inch screen, boasts faster-acting solid-state drive (SSD) map storage, a quad-core processor, and internet-based features. The hardware should hopefully address the main issue we had with the lesser InControl system during our drive of the XE, namely slow responses. Above the XF’s basic InControl Touch system, Pro adds the bigger screen; an interactive, 360-degree view of nav-system destinations; widgets that can provide a shortcut to favorite features; and dead-reckoning functionality that can pinpoint the car’s position when a GPS signal is unavailable.

While we hope the new system works well, we expect that the new XF will be more rewarding for those drivers who can direct their attention away from the screen. Even at seven years old, the outgoing XF is one of the best-driving cars in the segment, so we have high hopes for this new version.

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